University of Northern Iowa
Colorado State
James Powers UNI Past Colorado State, 83-77
12/3/2011 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - University of Northern Iowa junior guard Anthony James poured in a career-high 28 points in leading the Panthers to an 83-77 victory over Colorado State on Saturday in the McLeod Center.
UNI won its sixth straight game and improved to 7-1 on the season. Colorado State dropped to 5-3 on the year. The game was a part of the Mountain West/Missouri Valley Confernece Challenge.
The Panthers jumped out early on the Rams with a 17-6 spurt to start the game with James scoring 10 of UNI's first 17 points. The Rams clawed back to within two points at 23-21 following a three-pointer from Wes Eikmeier.
UNI closed the half on a 9-0 run after CSU had again cut the margin to two at 32-30. James scored the final seven points of the half for the Panthers as the home squad took a 41-30 lead into intermission.
The Panthers continued the run into the second half on a triple from junior forward Jake Koch, which gave UNI a 44-30 lead with 19:30 remaining in the game. The Panthers pushed the margin to 18 points at 51-33 following a bucket by freshman forward Seth Tuttle with 16:52 left in the contest.
UNI eventually led by 19 points at 61-42 following a 3-pointer from junior guard Marc Sonnen with 12:50 on the clock. UNI was up by 16 points with 5:45 left before Colorado State came storming back.
The Rams cut a 16-point deficit into a four-point game at 79-75 with 20.4 seconds left. The Rams got 3-pointers from Eikmeier and Dorian Green in the comeback to force the Panthers to knock down free throws in the closing seconds.
UNI was up to the task as James and Koch buried two sets of free throws in the final 20.4 seconds.
UNI's Seth Tuttle was perfect from the field with a 6-for-6 shooting night, and tallied a career-high 16 points. UNI also received double-figure scoring from Deon Mitchell (12 pts.) and Chip Rank (10 pts.). Mitchell handed out a game-high five assists.
Colorado State was led by Dorian Green's 21 points. Eikmeier also chipped in with 19 points. Dwight Smith came off the bench and contributed 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor.
UNI will next take on the Iowa Hawkeyes in the McLeod Center on Tues., Dec. 6. Tip is set for 7 p.m. against the Hawkeyes.
